The feelings of illegal aliens who were disheartened by yesterday's failed cloture vote on the "comprehensive immigration reform" bill in the Senate are the focus of this Reuters piece by Tim Gaynor. Get your handkerchiefs ready...the Tearjerker Express is ready to leave the station.
PHOENIX (Reuters) - For day laborers seeking work in a sun-baked parking lot on Thursday, defeat of U.S. President George W. Bush's plans for an immigration overhaul has set back their dreams of a normal life.
Much emphasis is put on the searing heat these men must endure as they stand outside a building materials store waiting for job prospects to come their way, which jacks up the sympathy factor this article is trying to elicit. There are also quotes aplenty from the men looking for work, including this one from 58-year-old Bonifacio Sosa, who has been in the US illegally for 14 years:
"We are illegals, we are just trash to them, and we'll just have to carry on here in the shadows hiding from everyone."
The implied racism of the bill's opponents is difficult to miss.
Some of other individuals we hear from are Roman Catholic Cardinal Roger Mahoney of Los Angeles and Arizona's Democrat governor Janet Napolitano, both who express regret and disappointment with yesterday's vote. Unsurprisingly, there are no quotes from anyone who is pleased with yesterday's vote who is in a position of authority similar to Mahoney and Napolitano.
In fact, there is nothing in the article to indicate any of the specific concerns expressed by those who opposed the bill (other than a general statement regarding the reward of giving at least 12 million people legal status) -- making it a highly unbalanced piece designed to tug on our heartstrings and possibly sway our way of thinking in the illegal immigration debate.
